


Hanbin Needs a Vacation

by TheSingleRose



Category: K-pop, iKON (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Attempt at Humor, Crack, Drabble, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-02-23 22:51:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13200246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSingleRose/pseuds/TheSingleRose
Summary: It's a normal day until King Jinhwan goes missing.





	1. Hanbin Needs a Vacation

“The king is missing.”

Hanbin clenches his jaw in order to not let a string of curses escape his mouth. The guard in front of him shifts his weight uneasily, perhaps thinking that Hanbin would take a shoot the messenger approach after hearing the bad news. Instead, Hanbin replies “I'll se to it right away,” and dismisses the guard from the library where he currently sits.

Prior to learning of the King's disappearance, Hanbin had been pouring over maps of a possible new territory acquirement of the neighboring kingdom of Geum that he and King Jinhwan had discussed the previous day. A sinking feeling pooled in Hanbin’s stomach an hour ago when Jinhwan hadn’t shown up for their meeting in the library, and the guard’s news confirmed what Hanbin dreaded to hear. Sighing, Hanbin rolls up the maps and places them back into their tubes before exiting the library, making sure the heavy oak doors are fulling closed behind him. In the seven years of being King Jinhwan’s personal advisor combined with an entire life of knowing the man, there has never been a dull moment.

Walking swiftly down the hallway, Hanbin’s cape billowed behind him and his heavy footsteps echoed loudly. Servants scatter out of the way when they see the annoyed expression on his face. Hanbin is notorious around the castle for his no nonsense attitude, which is only heightened by the current situation. Turning a corner sharply, Hanbin catches sight of a wide-eyed Donghyuk, King Jinhwan’s personal guard. 

“Hanbin! I promised I looked everywhere for him, and I swear I only looked away for a minute and the most, and then I turned around, and he was gone. I-”

Hanbin puts up his hand to stop the other man before he can go any further. Donghyuk is red in the face and breathing heavily, and it’s clear that he has been running about the castle looking for the missing King. Hanbin pities the man. Donghyuk has only been at his new position of personal guard for a week, so he is not used to King Jinhwan’s antics quite yet. 

“I believe you, and I think I know someone who knows where the king may be,” Hanbin reassures the panicking man. “Follow me.”

Donghyuk follows Hanbin through the convoluted twists and turns of the castle's hallways. It feels to Donghyuk like they had been walking for at least ten minutes before Hanbin stops before a door that looks like the last five they’ve passed. Looking around, Donghyuk suspects they were in the basement given the lack of windows and the slight musty quality of the air. 

“This is the kitchen door,” Hanbin explains to Donghyuk, perhaps sensing his confusing. Hanbin pushes open the wood door and enters the room with Donghyuk following suit. 

The kitchen consists of one large room with endless countertops and cabinets. Multiple stoves and ovens line one wall while various pots and pans hang from the ceiling. Every possible kitchen gadget imaginable is scattered across the countertops. The room is filled with many people bustling about, carrying food out to be served, washing dishes, reading recipes, and, of course, cooking. In the center of it all stands a tall man in all white with short brown hair whose back is turned to the duo who just entered. 

Hearing the door close, the man turns around, and Donghyuk and Hanbin are met with a pair of warm brown eyes. “Hanbin!” The man exclaims and envelopes Hanbin in a tight hug. After a few seconds, he lets go and turns his attention to Donghyuk. “Hello, I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Yunhyeong, the head chef.” He offers Donghyuk a warm smile and firm handshake.

“Hi, I’m Donghyuk. I’ve only been here for a week, that's why you don't recognize me. I’m King Jinhwan’s personal guard.”

Yunghyeong raises his eyebrows and lets out a small chuckle at that response. “ I’m not one to be telling people how to do their job, except if you worked in my kitchen, but if you’re King Jinhwan’s personal guard, shouldn’t you be with, you know, King Jinhwan?”

“That’s why we actually came to see you, Yunhyeong,” Hanbin responds, saving Donghyuk from having to stutter through an awkward explanation of how he has already lost the king within the first week. “King Jinhwan has seemed to have disappeared, and I think you might know exactly where he’d be.”

“Well, now that you say that, the King did come in a couple hours ago asking for a picnic basket to be made for him right away.”

Sudden realization dawns on Hanbin’s face, and he places his hand on his forehead, looking incredibly exasperated. “I know exactly where he is,” he says. 

“Where?” Donghyuk exclaims.

Hanbin shakes his head. “It’s better to show you than to explain it.” Yunhyeong and Hanbin exchange knowing glances, leaving Donghyuk even more confused. Hanbin and Donghyuk leave the room, and Yunhyeong calls out a “good luck” paired with a laugh, which only causes Hanbin to grimace and quickens his pace and further puzzles Donghyuk.

Donghyuk is even more baffled when Hanbin leads him through a door to the outside east gardens of the castle’s property. The gardens are King Jinhwan’s favorite feature of the castle, and he often could be seen sitting amongst the immaculately cared for flowers, soaking in their beauty and fragrance. However, Hanbin leds them past the rose gardens and heads back towards the expansive wooded area. His face is stoic and he gaze is set firmly ahead of him. 

Slowly, the terrain gets bumpier the farther the duo head into the woods. They have to duck under low hanging branches and watch out for tree trucks so as to not trip and up with a face full of dirt. Just as Donghyuk almost gathers the courage to ask Hanbin what the hell is going on, the forest gives away to a small waterfall and a crystal clear pond underneath it. In the shadow cast by a large tree, two figures doze on a picnic blanket.

Before Donghyuk can get a good view of the two people, Hanbin pulls him back so that they are facing each other. “There’s something very important I need to tell you before we approach King Jinhwan.”

“So that is King Jinhwan!” Donghyuk says and cranes his neck in an attempt to get another look, but Hanbin pushes him farther away from the opening.

“I’m about to tell you something that’s known to very little people. This isn’t the way his majesty wanted to tell you, but considering the circumstances…”

“King Jinhwan has secrets?” Donghyuk asks. In his short time with the man he had been nothing but polite and welcoming, albeit a bit sassy at times. “He doesn’t seem like someone with something dark and twisted to hide.”

Hanbin shakes his head, partially to answer no to the question and partially at the ridiculousness of Donghyuk's line of thinking. “It’s not like that,” he says. “It’s that, well…. King Jinhwan is in love.”

“What?!” Donghyuk shouts and Hanbin shushes him with an annoyed expression. Donghyuk lowers his voice and asks, “Since when? Is he married? I’ve never met his partner. I wasn’t even aware he had a partner.”

Hanbin smiles softly. “They’ve been together since he was around sixteen years old, so around seven years. Whenever he visits they visit this clearing together. That’s how I knew to check here. And no, they’re not married, at least not yet. The real secret is that his partner is Goo Junhoe. ”

With that latest revelation, Donghyuk’s eyes widen to almost comical proportions. “King Goo Junhoe? The King of Geum?” 

Hanbin nods his head yes. “They’ve been talking of marriage and combining the two kingdoms. The complication lies in breaking the news to hundreds of thousands of people about their relationship and the fusion of the kingdoms. I tell you this because King Jinhwan is very protective of his relationship with King Junhoe, so be careful when we approach them.”

“Of course, I promise Hanbin,” Donghyuk says. Hanbin finally moves out the way so that they both are facing the clearing the forest again. The two figures on the picnic blanket, now identified as Jinhwan and Junhoe, are awake and staring at Hanbin and Donghyuk. Jinhwan has a large smile on his face as he waves to the two of them while Junhoe cuddles him from behind, his hands wrapping around the smaller man’s body like an octopus and his chin resting gently on Jinhwan’s shoulder. 

“Hanbin! Donghyuk!” Jinhwan calls out and the two men walk over to the couple. “What are you doing here?” Jinhwan asks them once they are closer.

“With all due respect, your majesty, you disappeared earlier today and it has caused quite a frenzy within the castle,” Donghyuk responds. 

Jinhwan looks sheepish and turns his head to look at Junhoe, who has been silently watching the exchange with amusement in his eyes. “I would have to say that’s my fault,” Junhoe explains, his voice a deep baritone. “I wasn’t supposed to visit Jinhwan until tomorrow, but my schedule changed. I was able to come a day earlier, and I wanted to surprise him.”

Jinhwan’s movements draw Donghyuk’s attention to something glittering on his finger. “What is that?!” he blurts out before he can stop himself. Hanbin looks at him confusedly until he also catches sight of the ring on Jinhwan’s finger and he gasps.

Jinhwan sits up and untangles himself from Junhoe, who looks sad at the loss of contact. “Junhoe proposed!” Jinhwan beams and shows the ring to Hanbin and Donghyuk proudly while Junhoe looks onward with a smug expression. “I’m going to get married!” Jinhwan cheers.

After congratulating the couple, Hanbin points out that they should get back to castle immediately because the others don’t know that Jinhwan has been found. “And of course, we have a wedding to plan!” Hanbin adds on. Jinhwan giggles, looking at his ring again, and Junhoe has to nudge him into packing up the picnic basket and blanket. The group heads back to the castle, with Jinhwan and Junhoe holding hands and leading the pack, heads bent as they whisper and exchange quick kisses with each other.

“When you said King Jinhwan had a secret, this is definitely not what I expected,” Donghyuk whispers to Hanbin who laughs and then tells the group to pick up the pace, saying that he’s pretty sure that his grandma could walk faster than all of them.

At first, Hanbin has trouble adjusting to having Bobby around all the time. Junhoe’s royal advisor is loud, obnoxious, and completely unashamed. Hanbin had thought he wouldn’t like having to share his job, but after the royal wedding and having the two kingdoms merged, he is eternally grateful to have someone with such positive energy to share the workload with. Donghyuk also enjoys spending time with Chanwoo, Junhoe’s personal guard.

One day, Bobby and Hanbin are sitting in the library, quietly reading up on the latest proposed treaty when Chanwoo and Donghyuk come stumbling through the door. “King Junhoe and King Jinhwan are both missing!” Hanbin groans and puts his head down on the table he’s sitting at while Bobby’s raucous laughter rings in his ears. Some things never change.


	2. Yunhyeong's Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone commented on the last chapter asking for some Hanbin/Yunhyeong content. Hope you all enjoy it :)

**Three years before King Jinhwan goes missing...**

Everything changed for Yunhyeong the day he was hired to be the head chef at King Jinhwan’s castle. It had been an unassuming morning like any other. He made his pot of coffee and opened the front door to grab his mail. Mixed in between bills and junk mail, was a letter without a return address. Curiously, Yunhyeong opened it up and scanned its contents before letting out a gasp. Gripping the letter of hire tightly in his hand, he sprinted out of the door of his cramped apartment. People in the streets scattered out of the way for fear of getting run over when they saw the man barreling down the street. However, Yunhyeong was unbothered by their perplexed expressions as he halted in front of a small bakery with Song’s Cafe written across its awning. He threw open the door, causing the women behind the counter looked up at the sudden loud noise.

“Mom! I got it! I got the job! Your son is going to be working at the King’s castle!” Yunhyeong cheered.

“Oh, that’s absolutely amazing, Yunhyeong!” His mother swiftly moved around the pastry display and gave her son a huge hug. “I am so proud of you!”

Yunhyeong looked into the beaming face of his mother and gently wiped away a few stray tears on her cheeks. “I’m going to earn so much more money from this job, and you’ll finally be able to move the cafe to a larger space like you’ve always wanted.”

“I always knew you were destined for something big, my son,” Yunhyeong’s mom said. “And now, you better get packing. Don’t leave King Jinhwan waiting!”

All his life, Yunhyeong trained relentlessly under some of the finest chefs in the kingdom, dreaming in of the day in which he’d run his own kitchen. He used his knowledge and experience from the training to help his mom’s small pastry business that was run out of her kitchen transform into one of the most popular cafes in the kingdom. Yunhyeong owed his love of cooking to his mother, who raised him in the kitchen right alongside her. To possibly pay his mother back for everything she ever done for him swelled Yunhyeong’s heart with pride.

To say Yunhyeong's first day at the castle was overwhelming would be an understatement. He heard that the previous chef was fired for incompetence, and when Yunghyeong entered the kitchen it was in total chaos. Pots and pans laid across all the counters, something foul smelling boiled in a pot that threatened to spill over without anyone paying attention, and the staff ran about, all shouting things at each other. Yunhyeong stood at the entrance to the kitchen, frozen in shock.

“Need some help?” a voice said from being Yunhyeong, and he whipped around to see a man smirking at him. “I’m Hanbin, King Jinhwan’s personal advisor. He sent me down to see how the new chef is doing.”

“I-I’m Yunhyeong,” he stuttered out, immediately mentally slapping himself for sounding so nervous.

Hanbin’s smirk softened into a comforting smile when he noticed the panicked look in Yunhyeong’s eyes. “Don’t worry, they may seem like a lot, but I read through your resume with King Jinhwan, and I’m certain that you are a perfect fit for the job.”

“Oh, thank you, sir-”

“No need to call me sir, we’re both on the same level as employees here. Now, if you excuse me, I’ll fix this mess.” Hanbin moved to the center of kitchen, his face hardening as he turned to address the misbehaving workers.

“What exactly is going on here?” He shouted and caused all the workers to freeze on the spot. “Is this really the first impression you want to make to your new boss?” Hanbin motioned for Yunhyeong to come join him at the center of the room. “This is Yunhyeong, and you will listen and respect him, or else you’ll be answering to King Jinhwan,” Hanbin squeezed Yunhyeong’s shoulder comfortingly before he whispered, “I believe you can handle it have it from here,” and exited the kitchen.

Yunhyeong turned and addressed the crowd of workers who were all staring at him, eyes wide from Hanbin’s scolding. “Hello, as Hanbin said I’m Yunhyeong. I’m looking forward to working with all of you.”

“Hello Chef Yunhyeong,” the group replied, all bowing slightly.

“Well,” Yunhyeong looked around at the mess, “I’d say let’s first clean up.” The workers nodded furtively before scrambling to grab cleaning supplies.

After the first day, everything got easier for Yunhyeong as he discovered that many of the cooks in his kitchen possessed incredible talent and were only frustrated at their old boss’ lack of direction in the kitchen, which led to the disorganized work environment Yunhyeong witnessed his first day. It only improved as King Jinhwan came down and gave Yunhyeong a personal compliment after the first dinner he served, which Yunhyeong wrote about to his mother immediately. He found the cooks to be filled with eagerness to experiment with recipes, even creating some of their own. This revelation caused Yunhyeong never ending joy, as he had dreamed of running an innovative kitchen ever since he was little.

In addition to getting to know the workers in the kitchen, Yunhyeong spent a lot of time with Hanbin. He found the man’s grumpiness amusing, and after peeling back the intimidating facade the man was very sweet and caring. They often got together after Yunhyeong finished up with the final meal and Hanbin felt that King Jinhwan wouldn’t cause any more trouble for that day (which he was often wrong about, but a guy can dream) the two would meet up in the small servant lounge and play cards while talking about everything from their favorite animals to their deepest fears.

Yunhyeong learned that Hanbin’s parents died when he was eight. “King Jinhwan’s family took me in and had the nanny raise me alongside King Jinhwan. That’s why he means so much to me, even though I’m pretty sure he’ll be the reason if my hair turns gray prematurely” Hanbin said, his voice wavering and he wiped tears away. Yunhyeong placed a comforting hand on top of the other man’s and encouraged him to keep talking, noticing that the man had more to get off of his chest. “That's my worst fear: going back to that feeling I had when I was eight. The feeling of being completely alone. That this all has been some sort of dream.”

“You are not alone here, Hanbin,” Yunhyeong reassured, running his thumb in slow circles over the man’s knuckles.

Hanbin nodded and smiled at Yunhyeong’s words. “Everyone at this castle, King Jinhwan, the gardeners, the maids, the servants, they’re all my family,” he looked up to catch Yunhyeong’s eyes. “Including you now, Yunhyeong.”

Standing up, Yunhyeong walked around the table and took Hanbin into his arms, the card game laid out on the table completely forgotten. After a minute, Yunhyeong released his grip so that he could look Hanbin right in the eyes. “You don’t have to worry about being alone. I see it in the way King Jinhwan talks to you, I see it when the gardeners brought you roses on your birthday, and I see it in the way you have unwavering respect of everyone in this castle. You are loved beyond belief, Hanbin. Please know this. I promise I’ll be here for you.”

Hanbin stared at Yunhyeong as tears streamed down his face, but this time for a different reason. “Thank you, Yunhyeong. You are truly one of a kind, and it was one my best decisions in my life encouraging King Jinhwan to hire you. Gosh, we sound like a pair of sappy fools.” Yunhyeong and Hanbin chuckled at that last comment.

“Now what do you say we finish up this Euchre game? I was kicking your ass if I recall correctly.”

“Oh, really? I think you might be losing your memory, old man,” Hanbin retorted as they both sat down at the table again.  
Sitting in the castle’s servant quarters, cards in his hand, and Hanbin across from him cracking wise remarks every now and then, Yunhyeong felt complete. “This is where I belong,” he thought to himself as he let Hanbin win the card game (all because it would make the man smile the rest of the night (Yunhyeong might be very sappy (not that he’d ever admit it))).

**Author's Note:**

> come talk to me @llavkey on tumblr!


End file.
